1. Technical Field
This present invention is directed to a system and method for providing single-action multi-source presets for vehicle entertainment systems and more particularly for providing remote customization of vehicle entertainment systems.
2. Discussion
Manufacturers have long produced cars having radios with preset or favorite buttons that allow a user to quickly and easily select a desired radio station for the current radio band. As vehicle radios have become more complex and added additional options to become vehicle entertainment systems, these preset or favorite buttons have not changed.
Originally, preset buttons manually moved an analog tuner of the radio to an estimated position, regardless of whether the radio was tuned to the FM or AM band. Therefore, a preset set by a user for a particular FM radio station would not work as a preset when the radio was tuned to the AM band for a particular AM radio station as it would move the tuner to the desired FM position. After pressing the presets, the user also had to adjust the tuner to fine tune the radio to optimally receive the desired broadcast. Due to the mechanical nature of the preset buttons, pressing the preset to move the tuner from one end to of the band to the other end required significant force. Over time, these mechanical preset buttons would break due to their mechanical nature.
As radios started using digital tuners, many of the problems associated with mechanical preset buttons were eliminated. Digital preset buttons are easy to push and their digital nature allows for precise tuning. Digital preset buttons also allowed a preset button to include at least one favorite radio station for each radio band, thereby allowing for many more presets than analog presets without requiring additional space. More specifically, digital presets change their set selections depending on the selected radio band, such as the user being able to assign an AM frequency selection and an FM frequency selection to the same preset button. As the FM radio band gained popularity, to allow different users of a vehicle to each have their own FM presets or provide additional preset options to a user, many vehicles would provide an FM1 and FM2 selection which only changed the selected frequency associated with each preset. However, the preset buttons were limited to selecting a set preset from the current audio source, such as AM, FM1, or FM2 and were only available when the associated audio source was selected and active.
As vehicle radios move to multi-platform vehicle entertainment systems, the preset functions have remained essentially the same even though radios now use a variety of signals in addition to the common AM and FM bands to create a complete entertainment system. More particularly, vehicle radios or vehicle entertainment systems may include or receive multiple sources, such as AM, FM, Satellite Radio, tape, CD, CD changers, MP3 devices, USB devices, music players, IPods, memory devices, navigation systems and other sources. Even though the entertainment systems include more sources, the preset buttons, as illustrated in FIG. 5, still only allow selection of radio stations, more particularly only allow selections of AM, FM, and in some instances satellite favorite radio stations.
Although some radios have presets that allow selection of a particular CD in a CD changer, a particular CD cannot be selected until the CD changer is selected as the source input. Preset buttons also still do not allow for direct inputs for complex favorite selections on sources other than the current source. For example, while in the FM radio source, the user cannot select individual playlists or files on an MP3 or USB device using a preset button. Also, if a user is listening to an audio book on a MP3 player, and then desires to listen to the radio, such as an FM radio station, the user cannot select the particular desired radio station with a single push of a preset button or a single-action that changes the input for the vehicle entertainment system from the audio book to the FM band and the desired FM radio station directly in a single button push.
Vehicle entertainment systems have generally allowed for limited customization of the system the while seated in the vehicle. For example, it is known to set a preset by tuning a radio to the desired AM or FM frequency and while on that frequency holding the desired preset button for a set period of time in order to associate the desired frequency with the preset button.